A painted panel

When a Roman general celebrated a triumph, paintings of the conquered cities, the rivers crossed and the battles fought were paraded through the streets of Rome, alongside the spoils and the prisoners. They let the people see what had happened thousands of kilometres away. They were the tabulae pictae, the painted panels.

The Romans also used the word tabula for their maps. The most famous of them, the Tabula Peutingeriana, draws every road of the empire on a single strip, from Britain to India. That is where this project takes its name: it aims to be both at once, maps and images to understand history.

About me

I'm Rai Gordejuela, and I'm passionate about history. I'm currently studying for a degree in Geography and History at UNED, Spain's national distance-learning university, purely out of interest.

Tabula Picta grew out of that curiosity. Every topic I study becomes a short video and a visual essay, with maps that move as you scroll, museum images, a timeline and a short quiz at the end. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Where it all comes from

I write the texts myself, following the university textbooks for each subject, which are cited at the end of every topic alongside the ancient sources. The images are public-domain or openly licensed works from museums and archives such as the Metropolitan Museum, Wikimedia Commons and the Walters Art Museum, reprinted in the inks of a medieval codex; each one carries its author, date and licence. The maps are based on Natural Earth, and borders and routes are approximate, for illustrative purposes. The videos are currently in Spanish.

Contact

Spotted a mistake, have a question or want to suggest a topic? Write to me at latabulapicta@gmail.com. Corrections are always welcome.